Microstructure and Nano-Indentation Properties of Ion-Irradiated Fe-9wt%Cr Alloy
A change of the mechanical property and microstructure of an Fe ion irradiated polycrystalline Fe-9wt%Cr model alloy to 1 dpa was examined using a nano-indentation and transmission electron microscopy. We anticipated that irradiated damage would be formed up to about 2.5μm and a displacement damage peak would be located at around 1.7μm from a surface through a TRIM code calculation. A thick dark band was formed at about 1.5μm from a surface with an actual TEM observation, which is consistent with a displacement damage peak in the TRIM code calculation. TEM observations showed that small defects with a Burgers vector a0<100> and 1/2a0<110> are formed in irradiated Fe-9wt%Cr alloy. In the nano indentation test, the hardness increase due to irradiation induced defects was up to 0.6GPa which can be converted to a yield stress increase of 200MPa.